Comments - Reply to "Help me answer some questions in relation to Christianity" - Think Atheist2015-08-02T19:11:07Zhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=1982180%3ABlogPost%3A1255860&xn_auth=noThere are a couple of problem…tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2013-09-08:1982180:Comment:13734592013-09-08T23:46:56.240ZRichard Schweitzerhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/RichardSchweitzer
<p>There are a couple of problems with the initial post... I'll just address those because the treatment of the idea considering these points negate the rest of the post. First, the definition of miracle... the IP chose to pick and choose in this regard (not an unchristian-like decision). The actual definition according to Webster, and the one much closer to the Christian definition as opposed to a "secular" definition, is: "1<span class="ssens"><strong>:</strong> an extraordinary event…</span></p>
<p>There are a couple of problems with the initial post... I'll just address those because the treatment of the idea considering these points negate the rest of the post. First, the definition of miracle... the IP chose to pick and choose in this regard (not an unchristian-like decision). The actual definition according to Webster, and the one much closer to the Christian definition as opposed to a "secular" definition, is: "1<span class="ssens"><strong>:</strong> an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs." The word "divine" takes the event out of realm of standard science. Something happened, we don't know what but there are some theories. However, there is nothing to indicate something of divine origin other than the extremity of witness accounts.<br/></span></p>
<p><span class="ssens">Also, Tacitus, while a reliable and intelligent chronicler of events, was writing many decades, close to a century, after the event itself, so his knowledge of it is no more reliable than any other. He may have believed it happen a certain way, but since he could not have been there, and his only sources could have been other written accounts that also cannot be verified, or speculatively, supposed eye witnesses who would have to be very old and possibly swayed by their own agenda, even Tactitus' accounts are no more than heresay.</span></p> Ok, so is Prahlad Jani, who c…tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2013-02-06:1982180:Comment:12561922013-02-06T02:22:33.312ZHeather Spoonheimhttp://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/HeatherSpoonheim
<p>Ok, so is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahlad_Jani" target="_blank">Prahlad Jani</a>, who claims to have gone <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMLFLhw3UGs" target="_blank">70 years without food</a>, proof that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga" target="_blank">Amba/Durga</a> really exists? He is still alive and periodically undergoes scrutiny by those silly enough to feel it is even warranted - which gives us the potential to examine him first hand. If you…</p>
<p>Ok, so is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahlad_Jani" target="_blank">Prahlad Jani</a>, who claims to have gone <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMLFLhw3UGs" target="_blank">70 years without food</a>, proof that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga" target="_blank">Amba/Durga</a> really exists? He is still alive and periodically undergoes scrutiny by those silly enough to feel it is even warranted - which gives us the potential to examine him first hand. If you believe a god could exist then you should really make the effort to examine this fellow because if his claims hold up then he is proof that your gods do not exist. Alternatively, if you find out how he pulls off his con then you'll have a explanation equally applicable to Alexandra de Costa proving that such feats can be faked.</p>
<p>I still need to ask you for photos of the 'sun miracle'. There are plenty of photos of the crowd - why not a single photo of the event?</p>
<p>And as for Tacitus, it is clear that he was aware of the stories being told by Christians and that is where his relevance ends. With all those holy men popping out of their graves and wondering around town at about the time of Jesus' resurrection, don't you find it odd that not a single contemporary writer even mentioned such extraordinary events? I mean you literally have a city inundated with zombies yet not a single letter written home by Roman soldiers of the period ever mentions the zombie infestation.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>